Measly

Quick meaning: Measly is an adjective meaning Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms).

Meaning

Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms).

More Meanings

1. Of a person: infected with measles.
2. (figuratively, informal) Small (especially contemptibly small) in amount.

Example Sentences

For one whole day's work all I was given was twenty measly pounds.

Then take five or six apples, pick out the cores and fill up the holes thus made with flour of brimstone; stop up the holes and cast in the apples to the measly hog.

A measly boy, he looked like a tramp, probably one of the street boys from the village, just walked up here and made himself at home, and when I told him to leave, he wouldn't.

The visiting tourists eagerly forked over a measly two dollars per group to their guides as payment for their services. This amount was measly sum to the givers, but a princely sum to the takers.

Word Forms

• measlier
• measliest
• measley

Synonyms for measly

Depending on context, synonyms include miserable, paltry, trifling, meager, meagre, meagerly.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include meagre, meager, paltry, meagerly, miserable, ratty.

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